Central Asia news

The son of the missing theologian Abduvali-kori Mirzayev was arrested in Andijan

A source in Uzbek security structures says that the son of the famous theologian Abduvali-kori Mirzayev was arrested in Andijan on May 14. Abdulkuddus Mirzayev, 30, is a businessman. No particulars of detention are known at this point.

Mirzayev, a theologian and preacher popular throughout the Ferghana Valley, disappeared from the Tashkent airport en route to an international Islamic conference several years ago.

The Uzbek authorities claim that his prayers were anti-government. The authorities even call Mirzayev the religious leader of the Wahhabi and terrorists who allegedly orchestrated the massacre in Andijan on May 13, 2005. Defendants in one of the trials that followed the tragedy in Andijan called themselves Mirzayev's disciples.